Technical Field
The invention relates to an instrument that is designed for stimulating or more specifically irritating and/or for abrasively treating and/or polishing a membrane or surface or inner surface in the human or animal eye and that has a handle, enclosing an actuating element, and a probe, which adjoins the handle and is open on the free, distal end, for insertion into the eye.
The instrument under discussion here concerns an instrument for use in ophthalmic surgery, in particular, for the preparation of the subretinal insertion of an implant for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The replacement of functionally impaired, submacular RPE (retinal pigment epithelium) cells may be a treatment with a curative potential for advanced forms of AMD, i.e., to restore the homeostasis in the RPE and photoreceptor complex. Ultimately the objective is to provide the photoreceptors with a functional RBE [sic: RPE]. An overview of the procedure may be found in Binder S., Stanzel B. V., Krebs I., Glittenberg C. Transplantation of the RPE in AMD. Prog Retin Eye Res 2007; 26:516-554.
Description of Related Art
Instruments for inserting a subretinal implant are known, for example, from DE 10 2011 100 371 A1, DE 298 19 018 U1, EP 0 967 919 B1 and WO 00/76403 A1.